Comprehensive Review Report

Ying Wa Primary School

and
Ying Wa College

School Address: 1 & 3 Ying Wa Street, Shamshuipo, Kowloon

Review Period: 17, 18, 20, 21, 25, 26 and 28 March 2014

Quality Assurance and School-based Support Division

Education Bureau

November 2014
 Education Bureau
The Government of the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region (2014)

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this report may be reproduced in whole or in part, provided that the source is acknowledged.

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 Contents

Page

1 Introduction 1

2 School Performance 5

3 Concluding Remarks 21

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1. Introduction

1.1 Basic Information about the School (Text provided by the school)
• Founded by Rev. Robert Morrison of the London Missionary Society in 1818, with a
strong foundation in Christian education, Ying Wa aims at providing whole-person
quality education through a balanced educational programme which recognises the
needs of boys in all areas of development covering spiritual development, ethics,
intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics. With the school motto “Steadfast
Faith, Beneficent Deeds”, Ying Wa promotes the sense of belonging to the “Home of
Our Youth” and at the same time encourages students to live a meaningful life
through contributing to society. Nowadays, the sponsoring body of both Ying Wa
College and Ying Wa Primary School is the Hong Kong Council of the Church of
Christ in China.
• Since September 2007, the Ying Wa Through-train has been carrying Primary 6
students of Ying Wa Primary School towards the New Senior Secondary Curriculum
in Ying Wa College. With school autonomy and resource flexibility brought about
by the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS), Ying Wa had entered a new era in September
2008.
• Under the name of Ying Wa, the College and Primary School walk hand-in-hand to
serve as a life-building platform. While different stages of boys’ development
require different educational settings, the College and Primary School have different
focuses complementing each other.
• In Primary School, the objectives and strategies are:
1. Promoting moral education and healthy character building through a caring
culture in campus, with emphases on students’ responsibility, self-discipline, positive
values and learning attitude
2. Optimising learning and teaching effectiveness through subject-specialized
teaching, collaborative culture and life-wide learning, with emphases on students’
language competence and reading
3. Implementing school-based curriculum for boys through whole-school theme-
based programmes such as Mission Invaluable: Life Education Scheme (MILES),
multifaceted assessment modes and effective strategies such as “Reading Strategies
Training Scheme for English”, “Teaching Chinese in Putonghua”, “Teaching for
Mathematising” and “Collaborative Science Exploratory Curriculum”.
• In College, the objectives and strategies are:
1. Enhancing learning and teaching effectiveness through promoting learning
atmosphere, developing teachers’ professionalism, implementing peer observation

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 and lesson collaboration, catering for learning diversity and strengthening the role of
personnel in middle management
2. Enhancing student support and development through a school-based student
support curriculum for S1 to S6 with clear themes across the whole year,
accompanied by a whole–school student support framework
3. Strengthening through-train development through enhanced collaboration
between College and Primary School, with emphases on curriculum development in
the ele-middle stage (P5 to S2) and mutual participation in various activities
• The class structure approved by the Education Bureau and the number of students
are listed as follows:

Level P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 Total
Number of classes 5 5 5 5 5 5 30
Number of students 156 157 154 152 159 148 926
Level S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 Total
Number of classes 5 5 5 5 5 5 30
Number of students 205 203 197 196 173 159 1133

• Under the School Management Committee, the 4 Sub-committees in the areas of

school management, finance, academic and non-academic development are
responsible for guidance to and supervision of Ying Wa College and Ying Wa
Primary School. In addition, the Through-train Steering Committee under SMC also
sets the tone for and enhances the through-train development and collaboration in
both the College and Primary School.
• Both the College and Primary School emphasise effective learning and teaching.
With more resources due to the DSS mode, numerous local and worldwide co-
curricular activities are provided in order to arouse students’ interest and widen their
horizons. Manpower deployment, teachers’ professional development and
exposure to outside educational settings are also emphasised. There are also
special measures to cater for learner diversity inside and outside classroom.
• Both the College and Primary School focus on providing a life-building platform
specific for boys. Different themes of learning activities at different developmental
stages are provided to cater for the needs of boys at different ages. From character
building in Primary School to career planning and community services in College. In
addition, the Parent-Teacher Associations and Old Boys’ Association are also close
partners and supporters to Ying Wa in every aspect.

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1.2 Comprehensive Review Methodology

z The previous External School Review (ESR) for Ying Wa College was
conducted on 25 Sep, 3, 4, 5 and 9 Oct 2007. The previous ESR for Ying Wa
Primary School was conducted on 22, 26, 28, 29 Feb and 4 Mar 2008.
z The comprehensive review (CR) was conducted on 17, 18, 20, 21, 25, 26
and 28 March 2014 to evaluate the schools’ performances in four domains of
work, viz., Management and Organisation, Learning and Teaching, Student
Support and School Ethos, as well as Student Performance. The CR Team
comprised 15 inspectors and a lay member.
z A preparatory visit to the schools was made on 3 March 2014 to explain the
objectives and operation of CR to the teaching staff and clarify their queries
about the review. A meeting was also held with the school supervisors and
representatives of the Board of Directors cum School Management
Committees to learn about their views on the development of the school. The
Principals also took the opportunity to brief the CR Team on the strengths
and development priorities of their schools.
z Meetings with the students’ parents of Ying Wa Primary School and Ying
Wa College were both held on 3 March 2014 to solicit their views on the
schools. More than 330 parents in total attended the meetings.
z The CR Team employed the following methods to review the performances
of the two schools:
- Scrutiny of documents and data provided by the schools before and
during the school visit;
- Observation of 51 lessons taught by 51 teachers of Ying Wa Primary
School covering the following subjects under the eight Key Learning
Areas (KLAs):
Personal,
Chinese English
Mathematics Social & Science Technology Arts Physical
KLA Language Language
Education Humanities Education Education Education Education
Education Education
Education

Subjects Chinese English Mathematics Visual Arts Physical

Language Language General Studies Education
inspected

- Observation of 67 lessons taught by 64 teachers of Ying Wa College

covering Liberal Studies in the senior secondary curriculum and the
following subjects under the eight KLAs:

Personal,
Chinese English
Mathematics Social & Science Technology Arts Physical
KLA Language Language
Education Humanities Education Education Education Education
Education Education
Education

Subjects Chinese English Mathematics Integrated Integrated Computer Visual Arts Physical
Language Language Humanities, Science, Literacy, Education
inspected
Chinese Physics Information and
History Communication
Technology

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 - Observation of certain subjects and school-based curriculum
development programmes to gain a general understanding of how
students learnt though the lessons are not covered in this report. The
lessons observed in the Primary School were Music, Putonghua, Reading,
Religious Education, Technology and Drama. The lessons observed in
the College were Business, Accounting and Financial Studies, Design
and Technology, Economics, Geography, History, Music and Religious
Education.
- Observation of various school activities, including assemblies, ‘morning
physical exercises’, class teacher periods, ‘reading time’, lunchtime
activities related to English, Science, Visual Arts and sports; afterschool
enhancement classes and remedial classes; musical rehearsal and co-
curricular activities;
- Meetings and interviews with members of the Board of Directors,
School Supervisors, Principals, Vice Principals, panel chairpersons,
heads of functional committees, teachers, school social workers, parents
and students; and
- Scrutiny of samples of students’ work and examination papers.
z The findings presented in this report were derived from the corporate
judgment of the CR Team based on the information collected through the
above-mentioned methods.

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2. School Performance

2.1 Continuous Development of the School

• Envisioning a new phase of school development in pursuit of excellence,
both Ying Wa Primary School (the Primary School) and Ying Wa College
(the College) joined the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) in 2008. Linked
together by the same school sponsoring body, the schools operated under the
through-train mode share the same vision and school motto that are grounded
on Christian value education for youths. Each school still has its own school
supervisor and principal who oversee the school development, student and
staff matters as well as the daily operation of the school.
• Since the 2008/09 school year, the schools have started admitting a portion
of students at their own discretion as such autonomy is granted under the
DSS mode. Over the years, the schools face the prevailing challenge of
having consecutive cohorts of students with huge diversity in their learning
abilities. With these cohorts of students gradually promoted from the primary
to the secondary level, the issue of learner diversity has become a more
prominent concern for the College in recent years.
• Good effort and progress have been made by both schools to follow up with
the recommendations of the previous ESR reports. For instance, ‘enhancing
the effectiveness of learning and teaching’ was specified as one of the major
concerns in the five-year (2008/09 to 2012/13) School Development Plan
(SDP) of the Primary School. Professional capabilities of teachers were
strengthened to facilitate their effective use of learning and teaching
strategies to enhance the quality of student learning in classrooms. As for the
College, appropriate strategies have been adopted to strengthen the school
self-evaluation (SSE) mechanism as well as cross-level alignment at school,
subject and committee levels. In building consensus, all teachers have been
actively engaged in carrying out the ‘Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats’ (SWOT) analysis, discussing school’s core values, challenges
and improvement strategies in the process of formulating the previous SDP.
• The planning-implementation-evaluation (P-I-E) cycle of SSE is well-
embedded in the schools’ operation mechanisms. Both schools adopted a
five-year (2008/09 to 2012/13) planning cycle for formulating their first
SDPs under the DSS mode. The three major concerns in the SDP of the
Primary School were: (i) ‘promotion of moral education, nurturing good
character and self-discipline in students and enhancing their civic awareness

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 and national identity’; (ii) ‘enhancing the effectiveness of learning and
teaching’; and (iii) ‘promotion of having one sport or art for life to nurture
whole person development’. As for the College, the three major concerns
were: (i) ‘maintenance of student performance under Through-train with
Ying Wa Primary School’; (ii) ‘smooth transition and operation of DSS’; and
(iii) effective implementation of the New Senior Secondary Curriculum
(NSSC)’. The two SDPs aligned well with the schools’ vision, students’
needs and interest, as well as the schools’ initial proposals for joining the
DSS.
• Both schools were able to set clear targets for each of the major concerns in
the Annual School Plans (ASP). Many of the specified implementation
strategies and success criteria were appropriate. Implementation work was
carefully planned and carried out at subject, committee and classroom levels.
Monitoring by the school management and the middle managers was in place.
The schools were also able to make appropriate use of both quantitative and
qualitative data such as findings from student and teacher surveys,
observation of student behavior and performance during lessons, in
evaluating the extent of targets achieved against the success criteria. With
effective leadership and systematic monitoring at the school management
level as well as concerted effort of the middle managers and the teaching
staff, the targets of the previous SDPs were, in general, achieved with
pleasing outcomes. The major tasks involved in the joining of the DSS and
the planned implementation work of the NSSC were, in particular, well
accomplished. Student achievements in academic areas, music and sports
were particularly remarkable in both schools.
• Similar SSE practices are applied in formulating the current SDPs of the
schools though the duration of their SDPs differs. The three major concerns
adopted by the Primary School in the current three-year (2013/14 to 2015/16)
SDP remain the same as those of the last SDP. As for the College, ‘academic
development’, ‘student support’, ‘through-train development’ as well as
‘strengthening school administration, management and leadership’ are all
identified as the major concerns in the current five-year SDP (2013/14 –
2018/19). The linkage of the schools’ SDPs with previous SDPs is apparent
as student support, learning and teaching are the schools’ common foci. Most
of the targets set out under the major concerns suitably address the needs of
the students. For instance, values education continues to be accorded as the
top priority in the current SDP of the primary school to nurture and sustain
the character development of students. Similarly, taking into account of the
challenge of the learner diversity issue, ‘catering for learning diversity’ is
accorded the top priority under the first major concern of ‘enhancement of
learning and teaching’ in the current ASP of the College. However, the
school management needs to be cautious of the backwash effect of setting
such target as ‘excellence in public examination’ under the major concern of

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 academic development. Approaches or pedagogies geared to ‘teaching to the
test’ are to be discouraged. Students need to be guided to develop a positive
attitude towards learning.
• The two schools are governed by a ‘combined Board of Directors’ (BoD) in
addition to its own School Management Committee (SMC). The Chairperson
of the BoD is a representative of the School Sponsoring Body. Some of the
board members are appointed by the School Sponsoring Body while some of
them are alumni representatives or independent persons. As the BoD and
SMCs work together as a whole in steering the direction of development of
both schools, majority of the members in the BoD overlaps with that of the
SMCs, including the school supervisors, principals and teacher
representatives of both schools. All the meetings of the BoD and SMCs of
both schools are held together. Such arrangement meets the purpose of
enhancing effective governance of the schools as a whole and steering
through-train collaboration at the top school management level. In terms of
monitoring, four sub-committees in the areas of school management, finance,
academic and non-academic development and a Through-train Steering
Committee have been set up under the SMCs. This also facilitates the SMCs
to have a good understanding of the development needs of the schools and
leading the schools to excel. The BoD and SMCs are proactive and highly
committed to offer manpower and resources in supporting and advancing the
development of both schools. For instance, a consultant has been engaged to
provide mentorship for the College Principal when he was first appointed.
SMC members are also keen to provide their expert advice in managing
school administrative matters such as building of a swimming pool. All these
strategic planning and support contribute significantly to the continued
successes of the schools.
• The Primary School Principal is well-experienced and devoted to her work.
As a visionary, passionate and charismatic educator, she is most successful
in leading the teachers to cultivate a caring school culture and create a
vibrant learning environment conducive to aspiring students as self-directed
learners and developing the potential of every individual student to the full.
She is well supported by the three experienced Vice Principals (VPs) who
work competently with good professional knowledge. They are committed
and work collaboratively with a team of middle managers who also perform
capably and effectively in guiding the teachers in implementing the school
curriculum and various programmes for school development. All the
teaching staff are fully aware of the high expectations from the Principal on
their quality of work. They work conscientiously and strive to provide prime
quality learning and teaching for students.
• The College Principal and the VPs understand very well the culture and
operation of the school. Two of them were graduates of the College and all

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 have been serving as teachers in the College for quite a long period of time
before taking up the current posts in recent years. The Principal is committed
and conscientious to his work. Under his effective leadership, the College
continues to operate smoothly and maintains a high level of performance.
Various school administrative tasks are well-managed and efficiently
coordinated. Systematic management is further enhanced with
comprehensive documentation. Procedural Manual, guidelines and record
forms for teachers are updated or refined with more details with a view to
communicate more explicitly the expectations, standard and quality of work
required. The VPs are capable and supportive. They contribute useful ideas
and perform their duties well in assisting the Principal and guiding the
middle managers in various school administrative and professional tasks.
They serve well as a bridge between the senior management and the teachers.
Much autonomy has been given to the middle managers in leading and
managing subject panels and committees. In general, they possess good
subject knowledge and work responsibly. They also share the mission of
leading the secondary students to excel in their academic studies.
• In terms of professional development, both schools are keen to provide
ample opportunities for teachers to enrich their professional knowledge in
both local and overseas context. The knowledge enrichment programmes
organised by both schools are in line with the major concerns of their school
development plans. Teachers are also encouraged to apply for the Quality
Education Fund related to learning and participate in education-related
committees or work. Some teachers are able to apply what they have learnt
from the professional development programmes to enhance the quality of
student learning and share the good practices. In addition, the Primary
School has been serving very well as one of the schools under the
Professional Development Schools Scheme for taking the lead in the
professional sharing of their good practices and expertise since 2011. As for
the College, development of teachers’ professionalism is suitably identified
as one of the targets of the major concern on ‘enhancement of learning and
teaching’ in the current SDP. A progressive approach has been adopted to
encourage subject panels to make use of collaborative lesson planning and
peer lesson observation for professional exchange since the last development
cycle. Teachers are willing to share their teaching resources through the use
of the school’s electronic platform. In a small number of subjects,
professional learning communities have taken shape and good practices have
been observed. More sharing of such practices on pedagogies could be
arranged in other subject panels in enhancing the quality of learning and
teaching.
• The annual appraisal exercise is conducted effectively in the Primary School
for all teachers to reflect and identify their strengths and areas for
improvement, and for the management to evaluate and monitor the

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 performance of teachers by providing qualitative feedback and signposting
their professional development at different career stages. In the College,
annual appraisals are targeted at new recruits. The related appraisal
interviews are effectively used to inform the new teachers how to improve
on. Appraisals for other teachers are conducted every two years or so. The
frequency of such practice could be reviewed as timely feedback and
monitoring could further enhance professional capabilities of the teachers.

2.2 Learning and Teaching

• Aligning with the aims of education in Hong Kong, as well as the vision and
mission of the schools, a broad and generally balanced primary and
secondary curriculum is offered. The subject aims and contents are based on
the curriculum framework as recommended by the Hong Kong Curriculum
Development Council (CDC). In general, curriculum planning is effective in
fostering whole person development of students and catering for the different
learning needs and interests of primary and junior secondary students.
However, there is a need to review the lesson time allocated to the subjects
P1-P6 Visual Arts and S1-3 Computer Literacy to ensure the provision of
sufficient lesson time for students to build up the foundation knowledge and
develop the related skills.
• A rich variety of local and overseas co-curricular activities and life-wide
learning programmes are thoughtfully planned and implemented. They are
effective in strengthening the generic skills among students and enriching
their learning experiences to a global extent. It is good to offer a wide
selection of elective subjects with flexible combinations to cater for the
varied aspirations of the senior secondary students. Timely review of these
subject combinations is also conducted. Adjustments are made in the
combinations to provide more choices in addressing the changing learning
interests of each cohort of students. As an additional means to cater for the
diverse needs and interests of senior secondary students, Applied Learning
Programmes that offer multiple pathways could also be considered.
Commendable efforts have also been made by the schools to cater for the
needs of gifted students and the more-able ones. For instance, experienced
tutors are employed to design some teaching modules for Mathematics and
Science enhancement classes at the primary level. Secondary students are
also encouraged to enroll in advancement courses offered by tertiary
institutions.
• With an in-depth understanding of the developmental and learning needs of
boys, the primary curriculum is tailor-made with enriched school-based
elements. Under the leadership of the Principal and the middle managers, the
implementation of the primary curriculum and school-based initiatives is
successful and commendable. For instance, the provision of additional

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 Physical Education lessons at P1 and P2 addresses the physical growth needs
of students and helps them to form a habit of taking regular exercise for
building up good physical health at an early stage. The bi-weekly school-
based Technology lessons for P3-6 students provide a learning platform to
challenge students and satisfy their curiosity through hands-on experiences
of assembling and disassembling mechanical items. This also facilitates their
understanding of some basic scientific principles for their further exploration.
The monthly Drama lessons provide opportunities for students to learn how
to present with confidence and express fluently.
• Annual cross-curricular theme-based learning programmes emphasising
multi-dimensional learning experiences are designed to broaden primary
students’ knowledge and skills and nurture their values and attitude. In
facilitating interactive learning in special rooms such as the ‘iLAB’ and
‘Technology Studio’, specific learning tasks, often involving hands-on
activities are appropriately designed. Students’ interests and motivation have
been effectively enhanced as ample opportunities have been provided for
them to explore and experiment novice ideas in relation to their learning
interests.
• Due efforts have been made to provide secondary students, in general, with
the opportunities to develop their generic skills, as well as to reflect on their
learning. Students are encouraged to make use of the self-access learning
resources available in the school library. For instance, good efforts have been
made by the English Language Department to encourage students to
complete additional exercises to facilitate their language development and
foster their self-learning habit.
• A clear language policy emphasising bi-literacy and tri-lingualism is
implemented in both schools in alignment with their major concerns and
tradition. Putonghua (PTH) is used as the medium of instruction (MOI) for
teaching Chinese Language from P1 to S2 while Chinese is used as the MOI
for teaching other subjects. At the secondary level, English is used as the
MOI for teaching most of the non-language subjects from S1 to S6.
• A favourable language learning environment has been created and sustained
to promote the learning of Chinese, English and Putonghua. As a whole, the
strategies used are effective in enhancing the quality of language learning
among students. Students, in general, are confident and proficient in using
different languages for verbal communication. Their good written work is
also displayed in classrooms or published in school publications such as
‘ FLAME’ and ‘Torch’ in the College. Many language-related co-curricular
activities, such as the English Fiesta, story-telling competition in PTH, ‘Joint
School Treasure Hunt Day’ and Inter-house Story Telling Contest in English
are organised. The ‘Wa Tour’ with primary student ambassadors guiding
local, Mainland or overseas visitors to tour around the school, is particularly

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 successful as these tours provide authentic opportunities for students to
practise and use the language in a meaningful context. Students are also
encouraged to participate in competitions such as the Hong Kong Schools
Speech Festival and Inter-school Debate to broaden their exposure. With
strong emphases on reading during language lessons and outside lesson time
as well as the coordinated effort of teachers concerned and the school
librarians, a reading habit is established among primary and secondary
students. They show interests in reading during reading periods. Many
primary students also enjoy more reading after school to quench their thirst
for knowledge. As a step further, closer collaboration among subject panels
and the librarian at the secondary level could promote the reading culture
through reading across the curriculum. A wider range of reading topics could
be introduced to broaden students’ perspectives.
• Through the co-ordination work of the College’s Through-train
Development Committee (TTDC), steady progress has been made at subject
and committee levels to facilitate a smoother transfer for students being
promoted from primary to secondary levels. Communication and
collaboration between some teachers of both schools are strengthened
through organising a number of joint school activities for music and sports
and alignment of some administrative practices. Strengths and areas for
improvement of P6 students are generally shared with the College teachers.
In terms of curriculum planning, the interface is aimed at P5 to S2 students.
Through joint meetings between respective subject panels and teachers of the
schools, curriculum materials, teaching schemes and worksheets for students
are exchanged. This helps them to grasp a clearer idea of the objectives of
the planned curriculum, pedagogies to be used and the expected level of
student attainment. The lesson observation conducted at P6 and S1 levels
also facilitate understanding of the actual implementation in classroom
context. Nevertheless, there are still some gaps and varied views on the
purposes, expectation and approaches to be adopted for the interface between
the primary and secondary curricula. In this connection, the current mode of
collaboration between the schools could also be strengthened with a view to
deepening teachers’ reflection on classroom practices. Various forms of
professional sharing could be stepped up. Guiding principles for curriculum
planning should be set with regard to the specific needs and interests of the
students under the ‘ele-middle’ curriculum instead of merely discussing what
lesson topics in the secondary curriculum are to be added to the P5 and P6
curricula. Capitalising on the impressive learning abilities and generic skills
acquired by primary students in recent years, it is also worth exploring how
the junior secondary curriculum could be refined. Overarching guiding
principles could also be developed at the top management level for
facilitating consensus building among the stakeholders concerned. There is a
need to give due consideration to the aims of education when developing

11
 these guiding principles.
• In catering for learner diversity, a variety of support measures such as
enhancement and remedial classes are provided to the less-able students.
Streaming based on students’ academic abilities is used at junior secondary
levels. More attention should be paid to improve pedagogies in class
teaching. There is also a need to design a wider variety of activities to
stimulate students’ interest and motivation. In some cases, more scaffolding
should also be provided in class teaching to help the less-able students to
catch up with their learning progress.
• The schools’ annual subject plans and implementation strategies are
appropriately formulated. For some subjects, there is still a need to include
measures to better address the schools’ major concerns. Timely evaluations,
in the form of panel meetings and evaluation reports, have been conducted.
While some subject panels have been more adept at using evaluation
findings to adjust learning and teaching practices, there is a need for other
subject panels to devise more specific success criteria for conducting
evaluation on the effectiveness of different strategies implemented and use
those findings to further inform curriculum planning at the subject level.
• A systematic mechanism is well in place to monitor the quality of curriculum
implementation in both schools. Subject procedural manuals, in general, are
appropriately drawn up to facilitate subject panel management and provide
good reference for teachers on the implementation of different measures.
Regular panel meetings are convened and assignment inspection is in place
as a means of monitoring of learning and teaching. Some of the subjects
teaching schemes are well-written with highlights of the learning objectives,
teaching points and teaching strategies. These items provide sufficient details
for panel teachers to follow but some of the schemes are very brief with only
dates and lesson topics. More details are needed to facilitate curriculum
monitoring and evaluation.
• The Principal, VPs and the subject panel heads are all involved in leading
and overseeing the development of the whole school curriculum at primary
level. There is effective monitoring of the progress and quality of work by
the panel heads and VPs concerned. Similarly, the Academic Committee,
including the Principal, VPs and heads of some KLAs and sub-committees
formulates strategies for curriculum development at the secondary level.
Coordination meetings are conducted among KLA Coordinators and subject
panels are conducted to align practices with reference to the school’s major
concerns. Subject panel heads also report the progress of work. While most
subject panels have been effective in their monitoring work in general, they
could still make better use of various data and information collected among
teachers and students to inform future planning of the curriculum.
• The schools’ assessment policies and guidelines on assignments are well

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 formulated and clearly laid down with sufficient details for subject panels
and teachers to follow. Both summative assessment and formative
assessment are included in the right proportion. Flexibility is given to the
subject panels to adjust the weighting and frequency if necessary based on
the subject nature. Self and peer assessments are also conducted to
encourage students to reflect on their learning. Proper arrangements of
School-based Assessments (SBA) with clear assessment criteria and
procedures are in place for senior secondary students. The assessment papers
are carefully scrutinized by the subject panels to check the coverage and to
monitor the level of difficulty and the quality. Challenging questions and
bonus mark questions for the more-able students are also provided in
individual subjects. In analysing students’ performance, summative and
quantitative assessment data are used extensively by many subject panels.
While the analyses of students’ performance data are commonly conducted,
it is commendable that some subject panels even carry out in-depth analysis
of qualitative data such as students’ answer scripts in assignments or
assessment to identify students’ learning difficulties. Such good practices
could be further promoted to other panels.
• In general, a fairly rich variety of assignments, such as pre-lesson reading,
worksheets and on-line information search are assigned to students. The
assignments serve well to consolidate or extend student learning of subject
knowledge, develop their generic skills. In individual subjects, the
assignments for S1-S3 could be further differentiated with different level of
difficulties to cater for the needs of the more-able students. Students are able
to reflect and improve further when their assignments are marked carefully
with positive, specific and constructive feedback. In this connection, some
subject panels could further enhance their marking work towards this
direction.
• From the lessons observed, teachers are friendly, approachable and
supportive. Their rapport with students is very good. In general, teachers
possess sound subject knowledge. Their instructions, explanation and
demonstrations are clear and systematic. In lessons that are conducted in
English, most of the teachers are proficient in using English as the medium
of instruction. Most of the lessons are well-prepared and appropriately
organised with clear objectives. Teachers could build on students’ previous
learning and relate the teaching points to their daily-life experiences. In some
lessons, a good range of audio-visual resources, such as video clips, tailor-
made presentation slides and real objects, is appropriately used to stimulate
students’ interest and facilitate their understanding of the learning content. In
helping students to consolidate their learning, teachers could conclude the
lessons by recapitulating the major learning objectives or asking students to
summarise what they have learnt.

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• Students are generally attentive and they participate actively in learning
activities, showing readiness to learn and a conscientious learning attitude. In
most lessons, students can grasp the lesson content well. Some students have
strong motivation in learning and make good use of learning strategies, such
as note-taking and pre-lesson preparation, to support their learning. The best
performing students show the ability to apply knowledge and skills. They
also take the initiative to express their own views and raise questions with a
view to developing a deeper understanding of the topic being studied. Self-
learning skills and habits could be further developed among some secondary
students. More guidance and chances could be provided to secondary
students in terms of pre-lesson preparation and reflection on learning.
• The most common teaching mode adopted is a combination of lecturing and
questioning, supplemented occasionally with pair or group work and
presentations by students. In many primary lessons and some secondary
lessons, a broad range of questions is asked. This helps to enhance class
interaction, check students’ understanding and provoke their thinking.
Students, especially primary students, are eager and confident to answer
teachers’ questions and share ideas with classmates. Most of them are fluent
in spoken English and Putonghua. They are capable of using suitable
vocabulary and subject-specific language to communicate with their teachers
and peers. Some teachers can direct suitable questions to students with
different abilities and adopt effective feedback strategies, such as
paraphrasing students’ responses and suggesting specific ways of
improvement. However, there is the need for other teachers to use more
questioning techniques, such as prompting, probing, or rephrasing questions
to guide students to think more deeply and elaborate their answers.
• For lessons with effective practices, teachers have a good grasp of students’
learning needs and can design interesting activities with appropriate
expectation, for instance, group work routines are well-established. Students
demonstrate a high level of participation and enthusiasm. They generally
collaborate well with their peers by taking an active role in discussion and
respecting their classmates’ views. Students demonstrate proficiency in using
English for discussion and are capable of presenting their ideas confidently
in front of their classmates. They are creative and exhibit good problem-
solving and critical thinking skills during group tasks and peer feedback. In a
number of lessons, the design of the group activities should be further
improved by stating the expectations explicitly, providing clearer discussion
guidelines and more room for collaboration.
• Given the positive learning attitude and good learning abilities of the primary
students, more opportunities for peer learning and more challenging tasks to
develop students’ potential to the full could be used, especially for senior
primary students. In enhancing student interaction and encouraging

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 knowledge co-construction, more pair work and group work could be
provided. Peer assessment with scoring rubrics could also be given to
encourage students to reflect on their learning and learn how to improve
from their peers.
• In some secondary lessons, some challenging learning tasks are suitably
assigned to the more-able students. However, a wider range of strategies
could still be explored and adopted, especially those to cater for secondary
students who are rather passive and with more noticeable support needs.
More scaffolding and adjustments of the teaching content should be adopted
to address students’ learning difficulties. A more participatory learning
atmosphere is to be created. More opportunities should be provided for
students to interact, contribute their ideas and offer comments to their peers.

2.3 Student Support and School Ethos

• Excellent effort and support are consistently given to primary students
throughout the years in addressing their growth and development needs as
well as for their whole person development. The sophisticated student
support mechanism set up at school, class and student levels continues to run
very effectively, enabling the school management and various student
support teams to review, fine tune or design new pastoral care service or
support programmes that fully cater for student needs as individuals and as a
whole.
• Evaluation tools such as stakeholders survey and Assessment Program for
Affective and Social Outcomes (APASO) are effectively used to analyse
student needs and to inform future planning. Life events at home and in
school as well as current health and social issues are well utilised as a
platform or context for students to learn, participate, discuss, reflect, set
personal goals, cope with challenges or adversity and change their behavior
for good, as well as to heighten their awareness, articulate their values and
carry out their social responsibilities.
• Valuing that moral, civic and national education are fundamental for
nurturing students as responsible and global citizens with good characters,
which is even more important than achieving good academic results, the
school is commendable for purposefully setting it out as the first priority of
the school’s major concerns in the previous and the current SDP for their
primary students. This carries a positive and explicit message to students and
parents that good character building and good citizenship are foremost
important throughout their primary school life. Emphasis has been put on
enhancing students’ positive attitude, self-discipline and responsibility in this
school development cycle.
• All teachers contribute whole-heartedly in realizing the advocated values and

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 aims behind the services and programmes that are primarily developmental
and preventive in nature. Believing that every student is unique, there is a
strong consensus among teachers that every teacher shares the responsibility
to take care and observe the needs and behavior of individual students in
their daily school life. In sustaining a warm and caring culture, the Principal
and teachers often chat with students before lessons, during recess, lunch
time or after school. Students are welcome to write directly to the Principal
and put the letters in the letter box placed outside the school’s office for their
easy access. It is impressive as these measures remain a consistent practice
throughout the years. Students like to express their views, share their feelings,
and make suggestions which are then well used as food for thought for the
school management and provide insights for the school to change and excel
from students’ perspective. Students, in particular, the lower primary ones,
love to attend school as they have a strong sense of belonging and
satisfaction in their learning where they find much fun and interests.
• In terms of values education, the life-event approach is adopted. A good
variety of meaningful and interesting programmes such as the annual school-
based curriculum programme on ‘Mission Invaluable: Life Education
Scheme’ (MILES) are holistically planned and very effectively implemented
to cultivate positive attitude among primary students. Students learn to
appreciate the attributes for good characters and model on the positive
attributes of aircraft pilots. Verbal praises and specially designed awards in
the form of ‘flash cards’ showing pictures of different types of airplane
models are given as awards to recognize their effort, attitude and behavior
rather than academic attainment. In nurturing students as self-disciplined and
responsible citizens, messages of environmental protection are emphasised to
heighten their awareness. Related Programmes such as ‘green ambassadors’
and low carbon lunches are useful in cultivating students’ habits of
protecting the environment in their everyday life. Students learn to carry out
their duties in a responsible manner under the year-long ‘One Student, One
Post’ programme. In promoting national education, holding national flag
hoisting ceremonies, briefing of the Mainland current issues and visits to
related exhibitions are organized. Programmes such as ‘Knowing our own
hometown’ and voluntary services in the Mainland help students understand
about their motherland through life experiences. Health education is aptly
promoted through curriculum planning and put in real practice by students
during lessons and lunch arrangements. In gist, the implemented
programmes and activities are, to different extent, highly effective in
enhancing students’ positive attitude, self-discipline and responsibility.
• A whole-school policy is suitably adopted to support growth and
development needs of secondary students in general. The Student
Development and Support Committee, as led by one of the VPs, have been
set up to oversee and coordinate the work of various student support teams.

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 Under a whole-school student support framework, related policies and
programmes are properly devised at multi-levels and there is increasing co-
ordination among the student support teams. The school’s continuous effort
to promote core values is appreciative. Self-discipline, positive thinking and
appreciation, brotherhood and peer support, healthy self-image and goal-
driven life are promoted through mass programmes, workshops, assemblies
and religious related activities. Sports games such as the Ying Wa Basketball
All-star Tournament and the Ying Wa Premier League organised by the
Student Council to foster brotherhood among students and class spirit are
some of the vivid examples.
• Support for students with special educational needs (SEN) is one of the
school’s major targets specified under the College’s major concern of
student support. Teachers are thus encouraged to enroll related professional
training programmes organised by the EDB or external organisations. As it is
just the first year of this school development cycle, there is room for SEN
student support services to be further enhanced if more teachers could be
trained and more professional sharing among teachers is encouraged.
• When planning for more effective evaluation of implementation strategies,
data should be collected from the stakeholders concerned, for instance,
secondary students and their parents. Timely review concerning the affective
development of students, such as using APASO to collect related data, is
necessary for more in-depth analysis and addressing their development needs
at different growth stages. A stakeholder survey targeting at parents should
also be conducted as they are partners of the schools in supporting student
development.
• For whole person development of secondary students, the good practice of
providing a broad range of co-curricular activities including interest groups,
religious and social services, sports, arts and academic areas continued. In
promoting aesthetic development and healthy lifestyle, all S1 students are
required to learn a musical instrument or a sport and attend related classes
regularly. Exchange programmes and study tours to the Mainland and
overseas are organised for junior and senior secondary students to widen
their horizons. Students’ talents are further developed through participating
in many inter-school and external competitions.
• Sustaining the College’s tradition, much autonomy is given to senior
secondary students to plan and organise student council and various club
activities to develop their leadership potential. Leadership training
programmes and workshops organised for both junior and senior secondary
students are effective. Junior secondary students are groomed for their future
leadership roles progressively by serving as committee members in various
sub-committees of houses and clubs. Senior secondary students also serve as
mentors in supporting their junior counterparts in carrying out the duties of

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 the service posts. Student leaders demonstrate good communication and
problem solving skills in planning and organising activities. On the whole,
students enjoy participation in activities, in particular, inter-house
competitions, which helps foster strong links among schoolmates and
cultivates a strong sense of belonging. Outstanding students are also
encouraged to participate in international competitions and study
programmes. Apart from providing opportunities for the more-able and
willing students to excel, it would be beneficial to the less active students if
they could also be given more encouragement to contribute their service in
enhancing their self-confidence and develop their potential. To take a step
further in enhancing pastoral care, a wider variety of opportunities in the
form of reward schemes or programmes should also be designed for the
average or less-able students to demonstrate their efforts and to gain more
successful or rewarding experiences and achievements in their daily school
life. Positive feedback and more praises should be given where appropriate.
• A good variety of career education programmes are thoughtfully planned and
systematically organised for S3 to S6 students and sometimes their parents.
Some examples are talks on selection of S4-S6 elective subjects, ‘mentorship
programme for S5 students’, talks by alumni and career mapping workshops.
Latest information about academic and career opportunities is given to S6
students through electronic means. Useful advice on choices of university
degree programmes are given by class teachers or career guidance teachers.
In addition, universities and workplace visits and job-shadowing
programmes are arranged for students to enrich their understanding of career
prospects. As a step further, the school could consider extending the target
group to include S1 and S2 students. The focus could be more on helping
them to understand their own interests and abilities to facilitate their goal
setting for further studies and career mapping in future.
• The Guidance Committee organized various school-based prevention and
development programmes to cater for the needs of secondary students. For
instance, the Orientation Camp and summer bridging programmes, together
with the support of the teachers and senior secondary students as ‘big
brothers’, help S1 students adjust and adapt to their secondary school life
smoothly. Peer support programmes are provided to help the less-able
students. The co-operation between the Discipline Committee and Guidance
Committee is close with a clear referral system. There is a strong emphasis
on enforcing students’ self-discipline though students are, in general, well-
behaved and self-disciplined. Regular ‘form-teacher’ meetings at all levels
and the dual class-teacher system provided for S1-3 classes are in place to
enhance teachers’ understanding of the students’ problems and to render
timely support.
• The Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) of both schools are supportive to

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 the schools. They play an important role by serving as a bridge of
communication between the schools and the parents. Activities such as
picnics, talks and interests classes organised by the PTAs are well-received
with high attendance rate. Appropriate parent education programmes such as
talks and workshops on parenting skills and communication skills are jointly
organised by the school social workers and other professionals. Parents are
well informed of the schools’ latest developments and their children’s
learning progress through various communication channels, such as students’
handbooks, phone calls from class teachers and the school website. Many
parents are willing to offer assistance such as undertaking voluntary work in
the school libraries, serving as the leaders of the Scouts. In general, parents
have goodwill on both schools. However, some parents have different views
on the school’s student support practices for the less-able secondary students.
In strengthening and facilitating better understanding of the school’s
rationale and policies for student support, continual open and frank
communication with parents to acknowledge, understand their concerns and
win their support is necessary.
• The Old Boys Association provide strong resource and manpower support to
the schools in the form of donations, scholarships, serving as guest speakers,
offering job shadowing opportunities and conducting after-school tutorial
classes for students. The Committee Members are well informed of the
progress of the schools’ latest developments through regular meetings with
the school heads. The two schools have also established an extensive
network with the community and external organizations in local and
international context. They make good use of such network to facilitate
continuous school development.
• The primary students have a very strong sense of belonging to the school as
the school climate is warm, cheerful and aspiring. Students show genuine
interests in their learning as school life is meaningful and exciting to them.
They also have a close and friendly relationship with the Principal and the
teachers. Many students are willing to share their concerns, worries, ideas
and thoughts with the Principal through various communication channels.
They are confident that the Principal will take their ‘wild’ ideas into serious
consideration and provide good advice or support to them. The space of
learning is wide as there are various channels and support in the school that
encourage students to broaden their horizons, explore and dream for their
future. Students engage themselves actively in the dynamic and challenging
school life. Teachers work collaboratively and diligently in enhancing the
effectiveness of learning and teaching.
• Most secondary students also have a strong sense of belonging to the College
and the school climate is harmonious. The school management is supportive
to teachers. Teachers work conscientiously to enhance student learning.

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 Teacher-student rapport is good. Students are hard-working and strive for
excellence in their studies. They also participate actively in various school
activities and community service. Senior secondary students are willing to
serve their junior counterparts.

1.4 Student Performance

• Primary students are polite, cheerful and confident. They speak fluently in
Chinese, English and Putonghua. They possess very good learning abilities
and are keen to learn. They respect their teachers and behave well in school.
Secondary students are responsible and well-disciplined. They display
positive attitude in learning and possess commendable learning abilities and
language skills. Student leaders are committed to serving as Chairpersons or
Executive Committee Members of the Student Council, ‘Houses’ and
various clubs. They demonstrate good leadership skills and serve as role
models for their peers.
• In terms of academic performance, primary students attained very good
results in Chinese, English and Mathematics. In 2012 and 2013, the
percentages of secondary students meeting the general entrance requirements
for local undergraduate university programmes and sub-degree courses in the
Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) Examinations were
above the territory averages of day school students. In comparison with
schools having a similar S1 intake, the school also performed well in the
HKDSE Examinations in 2012 and 2013.
• Students of both schools participate actively in a broad range of extra-
curricular activities, including local and overseas competitions. Their
achievements are outstanding as they have won numerous individual and
group awards in many inter-school or international competitions, in
particular, in the areas of music and sports. Some students have been invited
to perform at international musical events and some have been selected to
represent Hong Kong to play at international handball and football
competitions.

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3. Concluding Remarks

Both schools are committed to striving for excellence and providing top quality
education to students for their all-round development. A good range of subjects is
provided in the school curricula with a rich variety of co-curricular activities to cater for
the different needs and interests of students. The BoD and SMCs have a good
understanding of the development needs of the schools. The Old Boys Association and
Parent Teacher Associations are supportive of the development of the schools and offer
their assistance readily. Praiseworthy efforts have been made by the schools’
management in overseeing and steering the development of both schools. The
Principals, VPs, middle managers and teachers share the school vision and mission.
They work conscientiously in achieving the goals set out in their SDPs. A positive and
stimulating learning environment is sustained and students’ academic and non-academic
achievements are excellent especially in languages, sports and music. With holistic and
coherent planning, the Primary School has made admirable achievements to realise the
aims of education through fostering students with positive values, attitude as well as
developing their learning abilities and potential to the full. Capitalising on its well-
developed management mechanism and concerted effort of the management and the
teaching staff, the College is highly commended for accomplishing the major tasks
associated with joining the DSS and smooth implementation of the senior secondary
curriculum. On the whole, both schools are delivering the quality of educational
experience and student achievement commensurate with their initial proposals to secure
the DSS status.
In sustaining their continuing successes, both schools could explore further the
following and surpass what they have already accomplished:
z Enhancing a collaborative culture of professional sharing for supremacy
in school development
Capitalising on the impressive learning abilities and generic skills acquired by
the primary students, it is worthwhile for both schools to further explore the
direction and development of the curriculum for P5-S2 students under the
through-train mode. There are varied views on the purposes, expectations and
approaches to be adopted for the interface between the primary and secondary
curricula among the school management, middle managers and the teachers.
Various forms of professional sharing could be stepped up for all teachers to
have a mutual understanding of the concerns and issues. Overarching guiding
principles could be developed for facilitating consensus building among the
stakeholders concerned. There is a need to give due consideration to the aims
of education when developing these guiding principles. The current mode of
collaboration between the schools could also be strengthened with a view to
deepening teachers’ reflection on classroom practices.

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z Enriching pastoral care and refining pedagogical practices to cater for
learner diversity
While good efforts have been made to cater for the needs and interests of the
gifted and more-able students, pastoral care for the average and less-able
students could be further enriched in the direction of strengthening their self-
esteem and sense of achievement in their secondary school life. On-going
dialogues with parents to understand their concerns and garner their support
would be necessary. In classroom teaching, secondary teachers’ role as
facilitators and pedagogies to cater for the different learning needs of
secondary students could be strengthened. A more participatory approach for
students to interact with each other, contribute their ideas and offer comments
to their peers could be encouraged.

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